Gossip over Brodkin’s expected departure has been circulating for weeks (months?), mostly from local children’s advocates groups rallying to her support.

Brodkin, who was appointed to her position by Gavin Newsom in 2004, was clearly unhappy with the mayor’s decision to push her out. In a letter sent to friends and colleagues, she said she was “disappointed” to leave her job.

“Although he has praised my service and called me a ‘superstar,’ Mayor Newsom has asked me to leave DCYF. Today will be my last day as director,” she wrote.

In an interview Wednesday, Brodkin said she was proud of the work she’d done and noted that San Francisco’s department is considered among the best in the country. The agency funnels grant money to nonprofit groups.

“This department has been many years in the making and it’s been the focal point of my experience and dedication,” she said. “What I’ve been most proud of is how we have really been a bridge between the city and the community. I don’t think there’s another city department that has that kind of reach.”

Brodkin’s supporters said they feared they aren’t just losing Brodkin, but that her forced departure is a sign of Newsom’s lack of dedication to children’s programs.

“Margeret Brodkin was an independent voice for a safety net for kids in the city,” said NTanya Lee, executive director of Coleman Advocates for Children & Youth. “With her dismissal, we think this sets the stage for the undermining and the erosion of the entire children’s fund, and that would be devastasting to thousands of families.”

The mayor, who’s in Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, couldn’t be reached for comment. Newsom spokesman Joe Arellano said the mayor is dedicated to the department.

“Margaret was here for over four years. The mayor thinks it’s healthy to have new people in positions of government,” Arellano said. “New Day for Learning is an important initiative that we think she will be best suited to move forward. It’s a good place for her to land that will keep her in the city family.”